China

Hong Kong will soon mark 20 years since Britain returned the former colony to China and Chinese state media is touting the milestone by promoting the city’s greater prosperity under its “one country, two systems” strategy. But few Hong Kongers are feeling very prosperous or celebratory given that recent data has revealed the wealth gap is now the widest it’s been since the city began tracking income equality 46 years ago.

Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was released from prison Monday on medical parole after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer. Human rights advocates say Liu’s tragic fate is representative of many others who have also fallen victim to China’s growing clampdown on civil society and dissent.

The amount of money that migrants around the world send back home increased by more than 50 percent over the past decade, according to a new analysis. Technically known as ‘remittances,’ the total amount of these cash transfers grew from $296 billion dollars in 2007 to $445 billion in 2016 – triple what is spent by rich countries on foreign aid each year.

After almost two years behind bars, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Li Heping was finally released on Tuesday – “visibly emaciated” and with a suspended sentence handed down in a secret trial. While family and advocates are celebrating his release, their joy is tempered by the government’s watchful presence over Li and all civil society.

China’s economic miracle has long been hailed as one of the biggest contributors to the fall in the global rate of extreme poverty. But now that growth is slowing and the country is working its way out of the “middle income trap,” economists have turned their focus toward the sharp inequality that latched onto China’s stunning growth. And according to a new study, it’s far worse than previously estimated.

As President Donald Trump decides in the next few weeks if he will pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, India and China have said the world can look to them to uphold the pact. Although India has been making impressive strides to cut pollution and increase solar capacity in particular, a recent study says the country’s coal plans could “single-handedly jeopardize” the Paris Agreement.

After nine years of service, the Cambodian government has suddenly nixed a U.S. military aid program with no explanation, while accepting a $157 million grant from China for a new soccer stadium. The move, many say, sends a clear signal of the country’s shifting diplomatic posture.

Amid an ongoing crackdown on civil society, a Chinese official confirmed yesterday it is detaining a Taiwanese human rights activist and nongovernmental organization (NGO) worker, who has been missing since March 19, under suspicion of “endangering state security.”

Eleven countries have jointly called on the Chinese government to investigate “credible claims of torture” against human rights lawyers, the Globe and Mail reported yesterday. In a letter dated Feb. 27 – which the Canadian newspaper said has not been made public – the signatories also condemned China’s practice of detaining suspects in secret locations for long periods of time.

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